A “disclaimer” is, in French, a warning. In other words, the precaution taken by a work of fiction to indicate that “any resemblance with real facts or people who have existed is fortuitous”. However, in Disclaimerthe mini-series available on Apple TV+, The Perfect Strangerthe book that the heroine, Catherine Ravenscroft, receives, makes it clear that the similarities between the plot and reality are not a coincidence.
This documentarian, played by Cate Blanchett – as always excellent -, sees a whole part of her hidden past resurface throughout the pages. Chapter after chapter, his whole life will be turned upside down, the revelations having repercussions on his professional and, above all, family world.
A thirst for revenge of limitless cruelty
The best way to best enjoy this thriller is to know as little as possible and let yourself be caught up in the different levels of intertwined narration. The episodes alternate sequences from the novel, returns to the past of the different protagonists and the quest led by Catherine Ravencroft to find the author of the book, a certain Stephen Brigstocke. The latter, driven by a thirst for revenge of seemingly limitless cruelty and perversity, is played by a stunning Kevin Klein.
The seventh and final episode of Disclaimer was posted online on Friday, setting aside a denouement that makes the public reconsider everything they have seen and thought they understood up to that point. Taken as a whole, the mini-series offers solid food for thought on the way we tell (ourselves) stories and on what we accept or not believe without thinking of the slightest questioning.
The return of Alfonso Cuarón
This mini-series, adapted from the novel Révélée by Renée Knight, marks the return behind the camera of Alfonso Cuarón. The Oscar-winning Mexican director, to whom we owe notably Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The sons of man and Gravity, had not filmed anything since the feature film Roma for Netflix in 2018. Hollywood Reporterhe said he warned Apple TV+ that he didn’t know “how to make television” and that he would approach this project “like a film.”
Indeed, if this fiction reserves its share of twists and revelations, it does not seek to adopt the codes of serial efficiency at all costs. Starting with the cliffhangers, supposed to maintain suspense at the end of each episode. Disclaimer is therefore to be watched as a film of almost six hours, letting oneself be carried away by its (false) languor. The game is worth it. In a year rich in excellent series, My little reindeer has Worship passing through Hippocrates, Disclaimer is in turn ranked at the very top of the basket.
